TECH-EXCLUSIVE

Russian hackers attacking electrical networks

A cyber-espionage group associated with the Russian Federation has hacked the power grids in Europe and the US, sparking the threat of remotely caused breakdowns, US computer security firm Symantec said on Friday.

According to this company, the Dragonfly 2.0 group has access to grid operating systems in the US, Turkey and Switzerland and "is now able to sabotage or control these systems if they decide to do so."
Symantec has not linked Dragonfly 2.0, which has been operating for several years to a particular country. But the US government and various computer security experts associate Dragonfly 2.0 with the Russian government and guarantee that its roots are Russian.
For several years this group of hackers has been attacking Western targets.
But since the beginning of 2017 it has been "focused" on energy systems, against which it has multiplied attacks, pointed to Symantec.
"Dragonfly 2.0 seems to have understood the operation of power plants and how to take control of their operating systems," the company said.